Ten Less Than Then
by L.A. Riverburn
Summary: Ranma didn't go to the Tendos, didn't meet them and didn't have any of their problems. Instead he went to Granny Saotome, met her rich friends, got a new set of problems and now has to enter an all girl's university attended as well by Akane and Nabiki
1. All The Money

**Then Less Than Then,**

Chapter 1,

All the Money

Based on the series Ranma ½, written by Rumiko Takahashi

revised... again (07/07/2011)

For unknown reasons, Ranma didn't go to the Tendos, didn't meet them and didn't have any problems. Instead he went to Granny Saotome, met her rich friends, got a new set of problems and now has to enter an all girl's university attended as well by Akane and Nabiki, and ... many many, many others

* * *

"Stupid school…"

Ranma – eighteen year old, student at Otsuma Women's University – was not happy.

"Stupid dress…"

Ranma – a natural redhead, with her hair tied in a thick braid – was not happy with the pencil skirt hugging her thighs.

"Stupid dad…"

Ranma – shorter than average, sporting a healthy bosom – was not happy with the white blouse firmly holding her female anatomy in place.

"Stupid dorms..."

Ranma – dressed in matching three piece charcoal suit with black vest – was , above all, not happy to attend Women's University of Otsuma, or more to the point, plain not happy to be a girl.

While her gender was the biggest problem, she also had some reservations about the name she used to enrol: Ranko Saotome. What was wrong with her real name? Ranma is a cool name; it's a strong and manly name. Ranko was nice for a girl, something she was not, regardless of what was written on her door.

She sighed, entertaining the idea of changing the name on her door with a big black alcohol marker. Deciding against it because of lack of said big black alcohol marker, she cursed at the other nameplate right under her wrong name. It told her that she was an undergraduate economics, the next biggest pain of being here. She could've been enrolled as physical education teacher, biology even physics maybe, but no, according to granny, you'd only survive in Japan with economics.

Ranma opened the door to what would be her new home for the coming four years. She could vaguely guess what she'd find, but still actually seeing it was another matter. The first room was of course the Genkan which not only had a striking shoe cabinet, but a fancy wall mirror as well. Involuntarily she gave her reflection a look over, much to her annoyance.

Besides the fancy student clothes her hair had been done at one of the most expensive hairdressers of Tokyo, her nails were manicured and polished, her face was an artwork of make-up and her subtle jewellery glittered mockingly.

She took of her stylish calf-high black Boss shoes, and exchanged them for black Babe slippers with silver swirling lines as decoration. She stepped from the dark hard-wooden Genkan on the soft crème coloured carpet and entered her apartment.

She stepped into a large room with ceiling-high windows directly opposite the door and to her left. From the floor up, about six feet, were stylish dark brown cupboards with slide doors. The cupboard's top serving as windowsills. A low black wooden dinner table dominated the first part of the room with a glass surface top encircled by chairs made in the same black wood and finished with black cushions.

Walking deeper in the room she found something she might come to like: a sofa, a huge black corner sofa that dominated the other half of the room. She turned around and – looking at the dinner table – noticed that the two looked very much alike in style.

The sofa encircled a larger than usual black tea table with a wooden frame and a glass top. Ranma's face fell when she noticed no warm blankies under the tea table to warm her feet under. Complaining under her breath about silly western ideas about furniture taking over her room, Ranma continued, scanning the rest of the room.

On both sides of the living room there were futuma, paper sliding doors. Ranma walked over to the one on her left, slid it open and walked inside a bedroom. The first thing she saw was a double bed - again build with black wood - with a crème coloured cover, a nightstand on both sides and a dresser opposite the bed. On the other half of the room were the same ceiling-high windows, with a big L shaped desk and a comfy officechair.

There were two doors in the middle of the room. One that she assumed would lead to the bathroom the other to the toilet. Whistling, she had to admit that these dorms had style. She might not care for it and the extravagance but she'd be living in luxury. Moreso because she knew this place was meant for two, but her granny had made sure that she had the place all for herself.

Nevertheless, as far as Ranma was concerned, the fancy room and privacy that came with it, was the only upside to this. Not only did she have to follow class in a subject that absolutely didn't interest her, granny had supplied her with an army of other luxurious trinkets.

She walked back to the dining room and sighed. She threw her purse on the table, leaned against the table and began pondering her situation.

She'd be starting a four year course in economics. Economics? She didn't think she was able to hate any other course more than Economics, and she could know. To pass the entrance exam, she had studied... a lot.

"Aaah, this can't be happening," she complained. "Why me?" she sighed again and began massaging her temples. Feeling like sitting down, she walked over to the sofa, and sat down.

'_Remember Ranma, education is important,' _she remembered her father telling her.

"That's alright old man," She grumbled, imagining her dad in front of her. "But why choose a damn girl university?" frustrated she grinded her teeth and threw a cushion at the wall.

'_Remember Ranma, your grandma is dying,'_ her dad had continued when trying to convince Ranma to enrol at Otsuma's university. _'She doesn't have long, and you don't want to disappoint the old woman who would be so happy to have a granddaughter finishing the school where she learned everything she had to know in life'_

"You money hungry no good bloody defect of nature," she grumbled, feeling some tension drift away while throwing insults at her father.

'_The only reason the fast bastard thought university is any good is because of the more than generous amount of money I'll get when I successfully complete this year'. _Irritated Ranma combed her hair pondering her situation. "blegh...," Ranma balked and stuck out her tongue in distaste at the thought of having to complete the course, as girl. She couldn't even just skip class because she had to pass.

"Damn it! I'd be more than happy to get rid of Ranko. Wouldn't miss her a bit!" feeling the familiar sting of anger at the thought of continuously walking around as girl she sat right up and balled her fist, letting her nails dug into her palm.

"Only bright side is that I will get the money, and not him," she though with a smirk, which turned wry the next second. "No reason to turn girl though! Humph, no reason at all" with a huff, she grabbed another cushion and threw that one against the wall as well.

"Good thing dad got me following school in the past," she mumbled getting up from the sofa. " Wanna bet he knew about the money though?" her eyes were as hard as steel for a moment "Wanna bet he knew and made me follow school! Hmph, would be just like him. Old fat bastard." She shook her head, grinding her teeth.

"Even worse," she observed her room, a frown appearing on her forehead. "Granny decided to have some fun before she crokes." She idly walked away from the sofa towards the table. Next to her purse was a brand new laptop. She had chosen it together with her grandmother. She wanted red, granny wanted pink, they got purple.

Ranma sighed as observed her new Dell XPS; she twitched as she considered its purple colour, and she bawled at the Prada mobile lying next to it. That last thing was definitely not something she had bought together with granny. She didn't want one, but granny insisted and bought her one.

'_At least'_ she thought bitterly _'that's all there is off cute girly stuff,'_ but the moment she finished that thought she remembered something. "Gah, I forgot!" Ranma reached behind her and began pulling on the black and red clasp holding her pigtail.

The clasp on itself wasn't even that much of a problem. It wasn't manly but it beat that old sweaty worn dragon whisker in looks. She still needed it though and wore it safely under the clasp. What she minded were the glitters and stars coming from it.

She threw the offensive glittering thing unceremoniously on the table and gave her room another look over before walking back to the sofa.

"What am I gonna dooooo?" she mumbled inside a handy pillow, hardly comprehensible. She grabbed a third cushion and pushed her face into it. She could always suffocate herself, and with this sofa she'd go comfy. That's when someone decided to knock on the door

She decided to ignore that and continued suffocating herself.

Her visitor wasn't giving up though; Ranma didn't give up either.

The unknown guest would have none of it and knocked a third time.

"grmlbl, rude rich pushy girls." Ranma straightened, and dragged herself to the door. She opened it for a young cute black haired girl.

"Hello there, I hope I'm not disturbing or anything," she said way too perkily for Ranma's taste.

Ranma mumbled something that the girl didn't quite get.

"What was that?," she asked chipper

"No you're not," she eventually said, and with the greatest effort tried to smile "What'dja want?"

"I've heard you're a new student her, just like me. I wanted to meet you," she finished with a bright smile, not at all let down by Ranma's brusque reply. "Since I saw you getting inside, I thought it'd be alright to introduce myself"

"Hmm." Ranma mused not really paying attention. When the girl offered her hand Ranma mentally sighed but shook her hand "Sure".

"I'm Akane Tendo, pleased to meet you"

"Ranm... nko, Ranko Saotome!"

Ranma released her hand, and waited for the girl to say something else. When the silence continued on, Ranma found it a good excuse to say goodbye and close the door. Akane wanted to know more though.

"So, what do you study here?" she asked shyly.

"Hmm," Ranma frowned, thinking that her course was written on her door. Slowly she walked out of her room, closed her door far enough to see the nameplate telling her she was a student economics.

"Economics apparently," she said dryly, looking at the plate together with Akane. They stared at it for a while before Akane offered her direction.

"That's a pity. I won't see you in many classes. I study literature" but then her eyes lighted up as she remembered something. "My sis can help you though, she's a second year undergraduate economics, and really good, though she's kinda horrible to be around with" Ranma frowned at the casualness with which Akane insulted her sister.

"I'm sure she is," Ranma replied, hoping this conversation wasn't going to take too long,

"How long have you been here?" Akane insisted.

"Just arrived," Ranma replied curtly.

"I've been here a day now. I live five rooms further together with my sister" she pointed vaguely towards some room further down the hall. "Otherwise I couldn't afford these kinds of dorms. They are really luxurious aren't they?"

"They sure are" Ranma agreed. She was hoping that her short answers would give the girl a hint.

"It is good it has two bedrooms, otherwise I'd have to get my own dorm and I'd have to choose one of those less luxurious ones," Akane went on, unperturbed by Ranma's briskness.

Ranma only made some noise in response.

"Do you have a roommate?"

Ranma was getting tired of the conversation. She was nice enough and any other time it might've been nice to talk, but not now. Now was for chopping of her own head, not giggling and befriending girls

"No"

"Wow, you got the room all to yourself? A giant plus when wanting to take a shower whenever you want. Still," the girl mused "the rooms have no baths, those are still public. Good thing there are only girls here."

Ranma nodded absently, not really listening anymore, hoping the girl would just go

"No bath," she agreed, nodding.

Then she stopped nodding. "No bath!" she turned around and ran back in her room.

Akane leaned slightly over to her left trying to peer into the girl's room. She instantly straightened when she heard the girl screaming in utter misery.

"I'll eh, meet you some other time then, bye-bye" and with that the black haired girl took off.

Ranma in the mean time was staring at her compact bathroom in disbelief.

"No, no, no, no, this is not true. I love baths, long hot baths. No" She shook her head in disbelief, looking at the admittedly large shower.

"Where's the bath?" she asked looking balefully at the shower stall.

"I love baths!" The compact bathroom didn't make a bath appear though. Besides the sink opposite the shower and a cupboard, the room didn't offer any other hygiene facility.

Slowly a stunned Ranma closed the door. She turned around, leaned against the door and plumbed down on the ground.

"Guess no baths for me," the girl said with a snivel.

* * *

This was the first day, only the first day, and already Ranma wanted to jump off a building. Besides that the fact that it probably would only bruise her, it wouldn't solve anything.

The real problem wasn't really that she had to attend classes, heck, she had attended all of them in high school as well, and though boring, she'd managed. No, she had to actually pay attention, take notes, listen and learn.

Granted, the teachers here were a great deal better than the ones in high school. Some courses actually seemed interesting enough, but not so interesting that she'd spend day in, day out in a classroom jotting down all what they say. Some girls had camera's and recorders with them to make sure they didn't miss anything professors said.

Maybe that's why granny had given her a laptop? Not that she needed to, all was relatively simple now, but then it was only a first day.

A second problem was the age old problem, that of being a girl. And besides it being just so goddamn frustrating, girls did what girls so, which happened to be socialising with other girls, giggling, drooling, talking about movie stars and whatnot. Take this long haired girl that was running up to her. She'd be the fifth today to talk to her.

"Hey, hey, what's your number?" the girl asked with a wide smile. She was the type of girl with lots of make-up, lots of jewellery, her hair bleached and pulled up and an even tighter costume then Ranma had with some bottoms open at the top.

"Huh?" Ranma regarded the girl with a frown "My number! Is that something perverted?" Ranma had no idea what the fresh girl next to her was asking. She had heard some pretty disturbing stuff about girly student clubs doing weird and perverted stuff. She didn't want any of that. She couldn't imagine joining horrific clubs like that awful sleep-over club she'd heard about.

"Your cell!" the girl continued to smile, a bit more strained though. "Look, we might wanna meet later. For a tea or something. Give me your mobile number so we can meet or something"

Ranma shook her head. How was she so sure she'd give it to her? She hardly knew the girl. Yea they had been talking right through the teacher's class eighty minutes straight, or rather she'd been talking talking about teacher this, student that, university such, and Ranma had tried to pay attention. If anything she really didn't want to give it to her.

Ranma sighed, and fished through her bag looking for the small purple device. Eventually she found it somewhere locked between bundles of loose paper she had yet to map.

"Okay," Ranma said with a sigh "How does this..." Ranma took a step back when she saw the feral grin of the girl when she took out her cell.

"Wow, that's one fancy prada cell you got there. You must be one of those rich kids here at Otsuma's. How much did you pay for this?" The girl looked up at Ranma with barely contained curiosity.

Ranma couldn't help but feel a little good at the sudden attention she was getting.

"Well now!" Ranma wanted to tell something impressive, but she had no idea what the big deal was with her mobile. It was nice and purple and she hadn't managed to call anyone yet, she hoped that it could do that.

"My granny gave it to me," Ranma eventually said, not sure what she wanted to say.

"Cool granny, remind me to meet her." She gushed, not taking her eyes of the shiny device.

Ranma nodded, not sure if that was a good idea. '_At any rate, she wants my number now. Let's see where I can find this_' Ranma began looking at the thing from all sides, but couldn't for the life of her find a number on the device. She saw she could open it somewhere, tried that and found a number.

"Okay, my number is..." Ranma was about to read the number, when she heard her groan.

"What!" Ranma asked impatient

"What are you doing?" the other girl asked nosily with a slight hint of frustration.

"I'm giving you my number is what I'm doing! That's what you asked, ain't it!" Ranma really didn't feel too happy with this girl. She wanted a number, she was about to give her a number. Why wasn't she happy?

"I want your mobile number, not the mobile's serial number" she said, accentuating every word as if Ranma was a simpleton.

"Hey! I'm not stupid okay? I just don't know any of this stuff." Ranma looked at the silly device, closed it and gave the thing to the girl.

"Here, you try to find my number. I obviously don't know!" Ranma snorted and pointedly looked away from the girl. The girl's finger flashed over the device, apparently knowing exactly what she was doing to Ranma's surprise because the girl apparently hadn't seen a mobile like hers before.

In only a couple of seconds the machine made some noise and out of the corners of her eyes, Ranma could see a number appearing on the screen of her mobile.

"Okay, your number is 080 1892 2012, don't forget it"

"080 1 What? I can't remember that number. Besides shouldn't I remember other's people number? Ain't like I'm going to call myself." Ranma said with a frown.

The girl shook her head, keeping her eyes on the phone.

"You'll be giving your number to a lot of girls." As an afterthought, the girl added "be careful which girls though. Some might end up calling you every time of the day". She finished as if she knew what she was talking about.

"Here," the girl pushed the phone back in Ranma's hands. She looked at the flashy screen and saw a name and number.

"Hitomi Sayuri 080 0709 2017. So your name's Hitomi?" Ranma peered curiously at the girl.

"Yeah, don't forget it" she said with a big smile.

Ranma made some affirmative noise then stared a bit more at the strange device before putting it away.

They talked a bit more about the courses, about the teachers they had already seen. And the ones she didn't like. More accurately, Hitomi was the one talking, Ranma was the one trying to release some first day school strain, and failed miserably since the girl next to her found it necessary to keep giving reasons to be increasingly stressed what with all the dirt of the school she was hearing.

Eventually though, they reached Ranma's room, and without as much as a "this is my room, wonderful talking to you, catch ya later, byebye *SLAM*" said goodbye to the surprised girl.

* * *

Wearily, Ranma threw her bag on the dinner table and then herself on the sofa.

Her first day of school had been horrible. She knew no one, contrary to many nervous and excited girlfriends who did and together had chosen the same school, and same direction.

Even Hitomi, the one she had talked with today knew some other girls. Why she felt she had to talk to her was beyond Ranma. Nevertheless, not less than five girls had come up to her to ask where she came from, which high school she had attended and how beautiful her school outfit, clasp and hair was and if that was her natural colour. Ranma didn't mind attention; in fact, she loved it. But for the moment she had some major adjustment problems.

Then there were the classes. They were... not interesting. She didn't care about management, about holding conferences, about making a budget, about philosophy and any of the other courses she was yet to see in the days to come.

Mumbling disagreements with her dorm, with the university with her dad, and with the world in general, she lifted her head and looked at the clock.

17:04

"Damn it! Already that late?" Ranma put her head in a pillow, mumbling curses and wondering how the hell she got herself in this mess. The courses, the school, the girl's dorm and above all, Ranko got to her.

It all began two years ago when she came back from China. Fresh with a new curse, he and his dad were supposed to visit a friend. For some reason his dad changed his mind and they moved in with Genma's mom.

Seeing how his dad had to sleep for about three months outside, it was safe to say she wasn't too thrilled with her son. Granny Saotome apparently had chosen to cut all ties with Genma.

That didn't stop her to be incredibly thrilled with the newest addition to the Saotome line. A fact Ranma didn't really mind, but he did wish she knew that he was a he, not a she. Her terrible eyesight was no excuse; she had excellent ears and a good brain. His dad didn't help by not actively denying that he was not a girl. After a bit, Ranma began to understand that though. Genma had to make up for a lot with granny Saotome, and it was obvious that granny held the fairer sex in high regard.

After a year, granny Saotome was so absolutely besotted with Ranma's chaotic life, and whenever Ranma needed help, she'd be there. Being an alibi for the many girls chasing him – even though she thought he was a she – trying to fight off Ranma's many enemies with her frying pan. She built him a large dojo with all whistles and bells, gave him a very luxurious room, and Ranma only had to ask and she'd give it to him.

He didn't want anything though. If he'd had a say in anything he just wanted to enjoy his art, think as little about school as possible and enjoy the occasional spar with friends like Ryoga who wanted her dead.

Granny had some other ideas though. One day she told Ranma that she was planning to donate all her money to the all woman's university of Otsuma, but told Ranma that if she were to successfully complete school there, she'd change her will and make sure Ranma would inherit her considerable fortune.

Seeing how she casually bought Ranma's the most absurd stuff, she had to be quite wealthy indeed.

Ranma didn't care about money, Ranma didn't want to go to university, Ranma certainly didn't want to go as a girl. His dad however had other plans. And after long tiresome speeches he had convinced Ranma to go along with it.

What followed were the most horrible three months of his life. He had to study, and not just anything, he had to study Economics, because that's what her granny thought he'd need to manage her money wisely. Ranma was no idiot, and not unfamiliar with school. Genma had trained him hard in the art; he also made sure Ranma didn't get behind in school. Low grades were not tolerated.

Regardless, Ranma wasn't prepared for the immense hard entrance exam that Otsuma University put her students through. It took the combined help of his granny, pops, Ryoga, his four fiancées and the old mummy to study. Two weeks ago he had gotten his letter of admission. His grades weren't the best (something that bothered Ranma) but he got in. Preparations could begin.

Choosing the room was simple enough. The most expensive on the school's ground with no roommate (it wouldn't do to have people finding out about her curse). Her wardrobe was a special story that required an army of clothes designers. More everyday clothes were bought together with granny in stores where the cheapest thing was a hanky of 4000 yen.

Everything was made to fit her body. In Ranma's opinion, they did a terrible job because everything was just a tad too small.

Underwear, skirts, shorts, blouses, chemise, jackets, shawls, trousers, jeans even lingerie and purses, she'd have to have everything and all of top quality with no other reason but to have everything of top quality.

Then came technology: a top of the line laptop, a way too shiny mobile and a music playing device and of course everything that was included in the room.

Speaking of the technology, Ranma still hadn't founded the all surround music system, the big computer, the television, the DVD player or loudspeakers. As far as she knew, the sensor lights were the only bit of technology available. Granted, she didn't need light switches.

Lying in the sofa, not knowing what to do, Ranma got up and decided to do something.

She'd go for a quick workout in the school gym to release some stress and afterwards eat a bite, then look at all the books she had and then sweet sleep.

"Not too shabby." Ranma regarded the gym, whistling softly. She gave the wall a soft punch to see if it was as sturdy as it looked. She clicked her tongue when she felt the wall giving away. "Let's hope I won't have any fights here. Wouldn't last a day," she concluded giving the gym a last look-over.

"Okay, according to this schedule, no one ain't gonna use the gym for the evening. Meaning I can do whatever training I want without spectators." Ranma wrote her name on the schedule indicating she would be using it for the next hour. People wanting to use the gym outside schoolhours could do so by filling in their names on the schema.

And so Ranma began training. First slow but gradually faster, with more variation, more dangerous, complex and longer combinations. After a minute or twenty she began jumping around, appearing to defy gravitation.

The mind was centred; nothing outside her sphere could influence her, her concentration supreme. Any aggression near her would result into immediate and direct action. Any presence in her direct area of training would be noted and evaded; all presence outside her radius of concentration was to be ignored to maintain her inner centre. With no interference, Ranma continued training rigorously.

She had a lot of pent of frustration. The stress of trying to get into this school, the insane tests she had to complete to qualify, the things she had to study, the girl's dorm, the first week of preparation and the first day in the girl's dorm and now getting used to living in an all-girl dorm. Meeting new people, making sure she wouldn't transform, trying to pay attention, adding to the already bucketful of stress with no outlet.

Regardless of how stressful she was, she made sure her frustration went to effective, and controlled training. Every move, kick, hit, smash, fist was thrust with utmost precession. She directed her anger in maintaining concentration and letting it evaporate into nothingness. The thrusts however were done which such ferocity, speed and strength that she consciously had to make sure not to hit walls.

She became a flying whirlwind of legs and arms, ghostfighting an incredible foe.

After half an hour or so she steadily began slowing down, staying more on the ground. After another five she gave the air one last slow kick, and that was that.

Happy with the effort a slightly sweating Ranma turned around, intent on going for some stretching and a well-deserved shower, and came eye to eye with no less then forty bug eyed people.

Ranma froze up, not knowing what to do or say. Being in the middle was good, she had no idea though what those girls were doing here. She reasoned they were her for the gym.

Ranma laughed nervously. "Heh, I ehm... thought the gym was free this evening? No? My bad," mumbling excuses, and looking awkwardly at all the girls Ranma walked out of the gym. As she walked past them, she got a bit unnerved by their creepy stares.

"Sheesh," she mumbled, trying not to look at the stunned people. "Okay, so the place apparently wasn't free, no reason to look at me like that, humph, no reason at all."

Leaving the people to try to come to grips with their now seriously distraught reality, Ranma went back to her room.

"A workout and a hot shower, pure magic." he blinked a couple of times when it dawned on him. "At least, it's pure magic for me" he finished with a smile.

Ranma nonchalantly threw his towel on the ground, and got comfortable in his office chair.

"Now let's take a look at these books." Ranma's voice was a couple of baritones heavier. Maybe not the best of ideas in an all girls dorm to be a guy, but he doubted any girl was going to bother him.

Feeling energetic he grabbed the first book on the high pillar of books. "History of currency"

Ten minutes later.

"Why is that every studybook is so damn boring?" Ranma complained

Ranma put the book back on the desk, sighed heavily and leaned backwards in his chair.

"Guess I'll go to bed. But first!"

Ranma stood up, went back to his bathroom, splashed his face with cold water, complained about its temperature, and went to bed.


	2. The Friends we Make

**Then Less Than Then,**

Chapter 2,

The Friends we Make

Based on the series Ranma ½, written by Rumiko Takahashi

revised... again (07/07/2011)

For unknown reasons, Ranma didn't go to the Tendos, didn't meet them and didn't have any problems. Instead he went to Granny Saotome, met her rich friends, got a new set of problems and now has to enter an all girl's university attended as well by Akane and Nabiki, and ... many many, many others

* * *

The second night in her apartment, the second day of school and Ranma already had a feeling of dread, a feeling that she wouldn't last a week in this place before something stupid happened, before it went to hell. Last evening was a good prelude, but as far as Ranma was concerned still nothing to worry about. She had thought the gym was free to use, hardly a motivation for martial arts war 869.

She stuffed her books in her bag, and walked out her apartment. She knew her schedule more or less out of her head for today; she had an eighty-minute introduction off discrete math followed by eighty minutes statistics.

She really didn't look forward to it, but decided to make the best of it. In the end it was just a challenge, just another obstacle to overcome. Besides, when it came down to it, the moment you understood it, it became easy. it always gave some satisfaction, solving them math problems, but it paled compared to winning a fight, rescuing girls, finding a new technique, helping a friend, evading a problem, showing who's best...

And there was the contradiction, something that had kept nagging her. Being a girl was tough, it was something she wanted to evade by all means possible, but it was not the only problem. She wanted to keep things peaceful and calm here, but at the same time, she didn't want to lose her edge. Having her time completely dominated by studies would seriously put a damper on training.

It was something to think about, something to find a workaround for. Something that had to wait, because apparently, something stupid had already happened. 24 hours! Only 24 hours it had taken her to get the complete attention of the school.

Ranma was encircled by an odd 40 or so students – all paying close attention to her. While continuing to walk she looked at the girls. Some stared; some sported huge smiles others – a minority – looked apprehensive. At first she thought she was imagining things, but when she turned a corner and saw that everyone was simultaneously following her, she stopped briskly.

"Okay, what's going on here! Why's everyone looking at me like that?" she demanded loudly. Here she was trying for once to be a normal student, to not attract crowds. The Saotome school of 'blending in' wasn't one she had mastered yet.

The girls weren't in any hurry to answer though. They looked at each other owlishly, waiting for someone else to answer first. Ranma scratched her scalp, and groaned. There was only one good reason she could've gotten so much attention in only 24 hours. Someone had already tracked her down and was telling stuff about her. It could be any number of people, enough who wanted to embarrass her. There was only one way to go about this.

Squash the rumours before they gained too much ground, starting with the most obvious rumour

"Look I'm not a guy, alright! No matter what someone might've told you" Ranma yelled, pointing at herself. The girls blinked, no idea what she was talking about.

She groaned and rolled her eyes. '_Good going Saotome, peachy, Might as well get the kettle out and show them_'

She had to divert their attention before they digested her answer. "I didn't send no one to hell, no matter what pig boy might've told ya girls!" Ryoga was an arse, an arse that had a way to talk to girls and make Ranma look like a prick, the second most obvious rumour.

Ranma sighed when she saw the girls blinking, and frowning, asking each other what the strange girl was talking about.

Shampoo! Or any of those crazy amazons, they'd be more then eager to scare the all girls school from getting to close to him... well, technically to her.

"And I ain't engaged to no Amazons, it's just their crazy laws!" she tried motioning with her hands that she definitely was not engaged. Circling movement around the temple area by some female students told Ranma that she wasn't really making any progress.

Her shoulders slumped. What could she tell them? That she didn't steal? That she had no kick for transvestites? That she ain't French? That she was no cat? That she didn't date no demon? That she doesn't have a 7 year old sister? That she wasn't a pervert? The possibilities were endless, and everything she said seemed to make stuff worse. It would help if someone told her anything.

There was one last thing, one thing people always accused her of. What exactly it meant, she had no clue, but it certainly was something that bothered a great deal of people.

"I ain't gonna steal anyone's hearts, alright?" Ranma tried. They blinked again and again they frowned, and Ranma was about to give up. Then girls began to murmur, which they did before as well, but now they wondered why she'd say that, they actually were about to talk.

"What do you mean "you're not going to steal anyone heart"?" it was a very shy, hesitant question coming from a girl on Ranma's right. She had half-long bleached black hair and big – for a Japanese - eyes, the type to gush over everything sugary and romantic.

And of course this was the question Ranma couldn't answer. What did she mean by that? A dictionary told her that she proclaimed she wouldn't 'seduce' anyone. But she never in her life seduced anyone, but that didn't stop people blaming her for it every other day.

"You know," Ranma said uncertain. "I'm not here to get any of you girls chasing me." Which was essentially what she meant. She had no idea what she did, but she as hell wanted to evade the consequences.

"You mean," The girl replied, slightly confused. "You're not here to fall in love?"

"Exactly!" Ranma smiled heartily. Not exactly the words she was looking for, but if that would make them understand her, it was good enough.

"Why not?" she asked genuinely curious and more than a little bothered. The other girls more or less concurred. Somehow Ranma flat-out telling them he was not interested in love in any way was a' no-no' in their book.

And Ranma's shoulders dropped even further.

The girl blinked a couple of times, gauging Ranma's reaction. "Did you have some sad experience? Did your love betray you that you don't trust love anymore?" And somehow, as if one had given them a signal all began talking at once, speculating about Ranma's love gone wrong. What first began with some silent hushed questions ended in a full-blown argument between no less then forty girls.

Midst all this Ranma couldn't help but wonder why they weren't bothered that all of them were girls. Actually, Ranma couldn't help but wonder what was happening here. Girls as far as the eye could see were discussing him err... her. Stunned, Ranma regarded the mass of girls with a certain detachment. '_This ain't happening; this is a stupid dream... Why me? What have I done wrong?'_

She tried interjecting, to calm them down and above all to deny some of the more ludicrous assumptions. But no matter how many 'No's' and "it ain't like that" Ranma said, the girls wouldn't listen. Luckily, not being listened to, is something Ranma had ample experience with.

The same bleached black haired girl suddenly remembered something. She frowned, apparently associated two things that had absolutely no connection whatsoever.

"So, you trained to become amazingly unbelievably astonishingly strong 'cause you couldn't deal with your lost love? And..." she stopped herself shortly. "And you're not here to hurt or bully us?" her smile accompanying that question was hopeful.

Ranma sighed and drooped her arms. This was getting worse by the minute. That and how did the entire school already know about her art?

"What do you mean 'strong'?" she asked, laughing awkwardly, ignoring the question if she was here to bully.

"You know, like the things you did yesterday?"

"What did I do yesterday?" Ranma was genuinely nonplussed. Her training yesterday wasn't anything spectacular.

"Well..." the girl drawled. " You jumped around like a superfast ninja."

The girls nodded in agreement.

"And the speed of those arms and legs, just... Wow," offered another girl.

"And she didn't seem to mind gravity much." The girls laughed at that.

"And she was so graceful and beautiful."

"Like an incredibly deadly wild dance."

"but on the other hand, so controlled and concentrated, nothing could disturb you."

"Like a hot super babe, trained in ancient Chinese art of fighting."

"The definition of the strength of women" another girl offered, making Ranma wince.

"Yes, yes, I got the idea, I'm good" Ranma said slightly irritated.

However, if anything, this confused Ranma even more. _'That got them so upset? They should'a see me when I'm really training'_. As it was, Ranma wasn't too thrilled with her current situation. She didn't like all the assumptions the girls were making, she didn't like all the attention, she didn't like that they were already amazed by her art. And regardless of all this, Ranma just had to proof he, or better, she is without doubt the best.

"That's nothing," she said bashfully, pushing her chest forward – earning her some jealous winces here and there. "Those were just basics." This struck some strange chords.

Ranma's arrogant smile quickly faded when she heard the new wave of conclusions they were drawing.

"So, like, can you shoot stuff? Like a magical girl?" the girl asked curiously and cautiously.

That made Ranma scratches her scalp. She could shoot stuff; in fact it really was easy. It was an easy opening to show them how good she was. But did she really want to start rumours about her being a magical girl?

"I ain't no magical girl" Ranma said with no little amount of indignation. "I'm the real stuff, I don't need magic to shoot stuff, I can do it all myself" Ranma finished with a smirk.

There, she told them she was not a magical girl, and at the same time told them she was a lot better.

"Show us," one of the girls asked

"Yeah, I want to see myself what you can do," another agreed

Ranma looked left and right, trying to find a way out. It wasn't that she was against showing how good she was, but she felt that right now, these girls might misunderstand her skills. Maybe at a time when 'magical girls' is not included in the argument

What to do? How to get out of this?

"Don't we have class right now?" Ranma asked innocently

All girls immediately took out their cells, looking at the time. Then they all began complaining how they all had to hurry up to their respective classes. A good chance for Ranma to slip unnoticed to her own class.

* * *

Knocked out on her bed, Ranma reviewed her miserable day.

If she thought that the morning was bad, then the rest of the day was a disaster. She had missed her first class – professor Tatsune's rule was simple: "When I start you're too late" – and hence had nothing to do for eighty minutes. She dearly wished she had because the forty or so girls were also late and so kept asking Ranma to do magical stuff.

Then lunch came which not surprisingly included the same questions. Ranma wasn't exactly attention shy, but her table was by far the busiest in the whole cantina. At least they were impressed enough about her fast but cultivated manner of eating, that they let her do that in peace.

In class, she got lots of notes which she didn't bother to read. It didn't go unnoticed by the teacher who asked to get rid of it all. Ranma complied and with a grin incinerated them. Fortunately, class was finished; unfortunately, everyone saw how she destroyed those notes. Magical girl rumour: proof two – she can destroy papers with her mind.

She thought she was homefree when class was over. Girls would go straight to their dorms or clubs after class, right? They wouldn't bother her. She bawled and acked when a she exited her class and was ambushed by a corridor full of girls.

Right there and then she had enough of it, with a nice umisen she disappeared from sight, jumped up, clung to the ceiling found herself a window and ran for her dorm. If she had heard the girls concluding that she probably had to fight crime she'd groan some more.

She thanked the gods that apparently they didn't know where she lived. She asked to gods to let that last a while.

She cursed the gods when she heard someone knocking on her door.

Ranma however was not in the mood "Go away."

"It's me Ranko, Akane"

Ranma wanted to scream. "Er, I'm tired, I have to study a lot, my room's a mess, I've caught a contagious disease, lots of horrible stuff, I cannot come outside now," she moaned, hoping against all odds to be left alone.

Ranma concentrated, hoping she'd hear the girl going away. Instead, she knocked again.

"Doesn't matter Ranko, I need to ask you something," Akane asked insistently. There was a certain edge in her voice. Not the angry kind, but the anxious kind.

"Aaaah" Ranma draped her whole body over the bed, and closed her eyes.

"What d'ya wanna know?"

"I heard some stories today; I need to see if they are true. Come out, just for a second" Akane insisted, continuing to knock.

"I just trained a little, nothing impressive." Ranma screamed tiredly to the door.

"I wanna see how good you are"

"I'll give you an invite when I train"

"But I want to spar against you."

Ranma opened her eyes. _'She wants to spar? Against me! Maybe's she's another crazy martial artist. Argh, I don't want another fiancée. Why can't they just leave me alone for one week?'_

"Do you need to do that now?" Ranma asked, fatigue obvious in her voice.

"Yea, I want to spar now. Come on already, just for a little while," Akane asked impatiently.

With a groan, Ranma straightened himself, and fell back in bed. She tried again and succeeded. Muttering and acking Ranma slumped over to the door.

Slowly she opened it, only to have Akane grab her wrist and drag her to the gym. While she was being dragged from her nice cosy and above all; safe room, both of them passed several other girls. The girls didn't know Akane, but did know Ranko, and she was going to the gym. That could only mean one thing.

Every girl they passed grabbed their mobiles and texted their friends, informing them of a possible new training session or even better a spar.

When Ranma and Akane were standing in the middle of the gym, they couldn't help but stare amazed at the throngs of girls streaming in the gym.

Akane eventually turned to Ranma.

"Alright then, we're here so we might as well spar," she said with a huge smile.

Ranma wanted to cry, no she wanted to sleep, not fight another martial artist. She especially didn't want to do it for a huge crowd. They were crazy enough as it was.

"I really can't convince you not to?" Ranma dropped her shoulders and gave Akane a tired irate glance, hoping the girl would just let her be.

"Nope," she replied brightly and definite. Ranma sighed again and shook her head.

"Alright then." She sighed, and wringed her hands.

"Don't you need to change?" Akane asked curiously, eying Ranma's school-attire.

Akane herself was already wearing a yellow gi with a colourful headband.

Ranma looked down at her black tight knee length skirt and white frilly blouse. She shrugged and shook her head.

Ranma was familiar with her own life, and hence asked her grandmother if she somehow was allowed to adjust her regular uniform so that she could more easily fight in them (what she actually asked if she could just toss the uniform in the toilet). Grandmother Saotome all too readily hired a team of tailors and designers to adjust the costume. No granddaughter of granny Saotome was going to be caught with tearing clothes, and she firsthand knew how easily that could happen with Ranma's active life. Simply averting fights wasn't in granny's line of thinking, adjusting the environment (i.e. the clothes) was. Very Saotome, in fact.

Seeing Ranma's shaking her head, Akane positioned herself. Ranma looked at Akane's readiness, acked some more, and dearly wished she was in bed. Then she regarded the ultra concentrated mass of girls in apprehension.

"Here I come" Akane proclaimed loudly, going at Ranma.

Ranma rolled on the balls of her feet, her hands clasped behind her, waiting for the girl to come.

When she reached Ranma, Akane latched out with an experimental high punch, followed by a high kick. Ranma evaded both. Seeing that she could go a bit further Akane went for five quick jabs at chest level, a low leg sweep followed by a high kick. Ranma again evaded all effortlessly.

Seeing no apparent reaction from the girl, not to mention that she didn't seem to have moved, Akane got slightly irritated. She went for another six quick thrusts, trying to advance, but the girl wouldn't move. She kept evading calmly. It didn't help that Ranko felt like observing her crowd a bit more while dodging.

"You can hit me," Akane said, trying to muster a smile. "I won't break"

Ranma frowned and cocked her head slightly, contemplating her opponent. Akane also cocked her head, trying to look the cute redhead in the eyes. Eventually Ranko sighed and took a more aggressive stand.

That was all Akane needed. She stormed Ranma, and tried a series of her best and fastest combo's. This got the girl moving. More then moving however the girl wasn't apparently going to do. Nevertheless for Akane it was enough to keep attacking the girl, faster and more violent as she went. Still no matter how vicious her strikes, Ranko dodged every one of them.

Akane was so caught up in her own fight, and Ranma's constant movement that she wasn't watching were she was going. Ranma suddenly stood still, smiled awkwardly. Akane noticed the smile but continued her attack. That's when she noticed her right foot was in the way of her left, and in a rather embarrassing way she tripped over her own feet.

The crows decided to laugh, but stopped immediately when Ranma frowned. When the laughter had died down, Ranma squatted next to Akane's fallen forms.

"You're okay there?" she asked worriedly.

"Did I just trip over my own feet?" Akane was looking at the ground accusingly.

"'fraid you did," Ranma generously answered

"That never happened before," Akane said while starting at the floor in disbelief. She had made a fool of herself, on her first week.

"..."

"You don't believe me do you?" she asked, turning to Ranma.

"Well, it's really rather clumsy," Ranma couldn't help but smirk a little at the spectacle.

"It is, isn't it?" suddenly Akane began grinning. "Man, do I need some training or what, tripping over my own feet like that."

"You need more than a 'little' training," Ranma said with a grin.

That got Akane frowning, "I did have some training! Alright?"

"That must've been some time ago," Ranma stated, genuinely surprised.

"You're pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?" Akane stated right back.

"I'm good," Ranma said matter of factly. "Very good. Reason enough to be pretty sure of myself ain't it?" Ranma replied with a big smile, looking at the girl.

"I guess it is. But really, years ago my dad taught me how to fight. At a certain point he stopped, but I continued on my own."

"...tripping over your feet," Ranma finished for her, with a smirk.

Akane lashed out, but Ranma jumped back. Akane smiled however at the irony. She was royally beaten, even worse she had beaten herself by tripping over her own feet, and the worst part was that she tripped with a huge crowd looking. A great way to start her new life in college.

She was about to get up when she saw Ranma offering her hand. She gratefully grabbed her hand and hauled herself up.

"Regardless, thanks for the fight." Akane regarded the awkwardly smiling redhead curiously. "Hey, do you think you could show me a few tricks? You know, like help me get a little better. Since you're so good and all." Though she tried to sound as polite and neutral as possible she couldn't help but sound a little bitter. Akane Tendo was a proud woman, and she just tripped over her own feet. That would grate for a while.

"I ehm, I dunno." Ranma replied testily.

"Oh Come'on. I'm a good student"

"..." Ranma frowned and watched Akane doubtfully.

"Look, I am, okay?" Akane said, getting a little tired of the redhead's sceptic behaviour. So she had beaten her easily, that was no reason to act all high and mighty.

"You sure? You seemed a bit too feisty in that fight," Ranma said easily with a light smile.

"You want to know what feisty is," and with those words, Akane lashed out at Ranma who had simply took a step back as soon as she saw the coming strike.

"Humph, okay then, don't train me. Like I need your help, I'll train myself. I happen to like tripping over my own feet," Akane said in a huff, trying to maintain the little composure she had left.

"Aw, don't take it like that. Just that the one time I trained someone, it was... well weird."

"It was? Why's that?"

By now both Akane and Ranma were walking out of the gym towards their dorms. The girls surrounding them all seemed to have burning questions but Ranma and Akane ignored them.

"She's like, around seventy-eight," Ranma said, shaking her head, still not sure what to make of her granny trying to learn the anything goes Saotome style.

This got Akane laughing aloud. "Why did she want to learn it?" she asked between snickers.

"I dunno, guess all my fights inspired her or something. Maybe she was tired of hitting my rivals with that nasty frying pan of hers. Dunno why, that thing is damn powerful," Ranma said softly, reminiscing some situations when she was still living with granny.

"She attacked your rivals with a frying pan?" Akane asked amazed, looking at Ranma with big eyes.

"Hmm, sure she did. Always a full hit" Ranma couldn't help but smile, remembering the times when all those opponents couldn't comprehend what happened and who and with what they were hit.

"Wasn't that dangerous? I mean, such an old lady?" Akane cocked her head, curiously looking at the girl besides her.

Ranma gave her a cocky smile. "Don't underestimate my granny. She's got some serious spunk. If it wasn't for her bad eyesight I'd bet I could turn her into a real mean fighting granny"

Akane laughed at that.

"But then how come she's so successful with her frying pan?" Akane hoped for another funny anecdote, and Ranma didn't disappoint.

A bit dry, but also a tad amazed Ranma replied. "She ain't actually. Most of the time she hits me."

Akane couldn't help it anymore and almost fell on the ground laughing.

"Well, actually she hits my dad most of the time, but that's usually on purpose. Humph, deserves it as well. At any rate, when she does hit one of my rivals, they are quite surprised, leaving them wide open."

Now the girl got tears in her eyes from laughing. Ranma went on, not minding the hysterical girl next to her.

"At first it was really surprising, and both I and my rival looked at her in sheer stupefaction. But ya know, imagine yourself in their place. Ya just don't hit a granny. You certainly don't hit my granny. So really even if they saw nothing wrong with a wild granny wielding a vicious frying pan, they wouldn't hurt her."

"Stop, stop, oooh, my stomach" Akane was taking deep breaths, trying to gain some manner of control, but still giggling and grinning.

"Well, I haven't told you anything yet. You should see her when my dad and I are training. She always tries to join with that frying pan of hers. I don't mind it really; my dad however has some issues."

That got the girl into another fit of laughter.

"And if you're wondering about her bad eyesight. My dad's all black and white and fat anyway, easy to spot."

Akane had no idea what that last part meant, but it sounded funny as hell.

Eventually, Akane got her laughter under control. She was curious now though.

"So you live together with your dad and grandmother?"

"Yep, the three of us in a way too big house. My granny's really rich you see, contrary to my dad who's really poor. Though I can't say it beats trekking, I really had a great time there."

"You trekked?"

"Yea, all over Japan and China, my dad and me, training in all sorts of martial arts."

"So that's why you're so good?" she asked genuinely curious.

"kinda, mostly though because I'm just that, good," Ranma finished with a big smirk.

"You won't believe me, but I'm not too shabby myself, or at least I believed I wasn't too shabby. I didn't trek to nowhere, but I had some really frustrating training in school," that last part was said with no small amount of disgust.

"What happened?" Ranma looked besides her at her new friend.

"For a certain time I always had to fight to get to school. Some idiot had announced that to date me, you had to beat me."

"heh," Ranma began with a chuckle. "So I got a date with you now?"

Akane turned to her companion, confused. She blinked a couple of times, trying to comprehend what the girl next to her had just said.

"What was that?"

"Forget I said that," the redhead said now a lot more serious with an awkward grimace on her face.

"Hmmm, well no, technically not because I defeated myself. You just watched till I tripped over my own feet." Akane stated with a smile, making clear she had heard Ranma. She just had to figure out if she were joking or not. This is for all intents and purposes an all girl school.

"True, true, you tripped over your own feet."

"Yes well, let's forget about that," Akane said between clenched teeth. "At any rate, it did provide for some nice training every morning. Eventually it stopped when the whole student body turned against our new principal who's a complete story on itself."

"Sounds to me like you had a rather unique education over there"

"You don't know half of it. But that's all over. Here things should remain normal."

Akane turned to her companion who had chosen to look up at the ceiling, click her tongue and mused. She thought she could her saying something like 'one can always hope'. She shrugged and decided to forget it. Things couldn't possibly get any weirder anyway.

"I'm here with my sis, Nabiki. She's more or less the reason why I'm here, quite resourceful and somehow managed to get a place here, though the tuition fee is immense, as with most private schools. She even got the sweetest rooms available. This university is quite famed for its courses in economics. I heard that none other than Kaoru Fujihara finished school there."

"How about that!" Ranma replied, with not even the slightest hint of interest.

Akane snickered at the girl's obvious disinterest. "Yea well, it's not like I know her as well. I'm not here for the economics. But she's kinda the hero of my sis, couldn't help knowing her"

"Your sis's hero is an old granny with a lot of money?" Ranma asked amazed

"I guess so. A matter of interest I guess. Mine's Matsuo Bashō" Akane said with a smile.

Ranma whistled, "Yea, but everyone knows Matsuo Bashō, I haven't heard ever of Kaoru Fujihara"

"True, true" Akane agreed "At any rate, daddy wanted me to go to the same school as Nabiki. My dad's a bit overprotective, and he reasoned I'd have my sister here to help me and stuff. I'd much rather have gone to Nihon University actually, my friends attend that one. But, dad's stubborn like that. He worked out some really complicated financial plan with Nabiki, which she eventually grudgingly agreed to."

"Sounds like your sister knows a great deal about money," Ranma commented, looking at Akane.

"She does, oooh, she does," Akane mused, recalling the many occasions where Nabiki sold her off.

"But don't you as well?" Akane suddenly said, looking at Ranma.

"Uh? Why should I?" Ranma asked frowning

"You know, because of what you study?"

"Ehm," Ranma scratched her scalp for a second. "What do I study again?"

Akane peered curiously at the redhead. '_Was she for real?_'

"Oh yeah," Ranma's face cleared up as she remembered was she studied. "Economics. Ehm, yea, about that. Something my granny thought was a great idea."

"Your granny wants you to study economics? Why's that?" Akane asked curiously

"Honour, inheritance, my dad... lots of reasons, I'm not sure," she said vaguely. If she had to explain all, she'd be talking for another five hours.

"Aaah, tricky" Akane replied knowingly, nodding her head.

"You don't know half of it," Ranma said sighing. "At any rate, here's my room. Thanks for the chat, and we'll see about that training, oke?"

"Glad you consider it," Akane replied with a brilliant smile. "Cheers Ranko, sleep tight". They shook hands and parted.


	3. Never a Moment Alone

**Then Less Than Then,**

Chapter 3,

Never a Moment Alone

Based on the series Ranma ½, written by Rumiko Takahashi

revised... again (07/07/2011)

For unknown reasons, Ranma didn't go to the Tendos, didn't meet them and didn't have any problems. Instead he went to Granny Saotome, met her rich friends, got a new set of problems and now has to enter an all girl's university attended as well by Akane and Nabiki, and ... many many, many others

* * *

Tired, weary, and bushed Ranma closed the door behind her. She threw her satchel on the table and went straight for the sofa, thankfully and gleefully hugging them. It felt good to be back in her apartment, a hassle-free place where she was all alone. No girls to pester her, no one asking for training or to show tricks, just her and luxury.

Outside it was still full day, with a sun shining brilliantly through the large windows. In an hour or so it would begin to set, sending rays of comfortable red light in her apartment.

Considering everything, she felt actually pretty good. Ranma didn't do bad moods, but she was amazed at how comfortable she already felt. Maybe it was the comfort of returning to a safe haven, maybe it was getting to know people who also were interested in Martial Arts, maybe it was this place that she could call her own home now.

Which reminded her. With a grin she walked to the bathroom and took a nice hot shower. Clean, taller and manlier he thanked granny once more for arranging a room with no roommates. It probably wasn't smart to change into a guy every chance he got, but he excused himself that he was still trying to get used to being a girl all the time.

Dressed in the only male clothes the he had with him, the usual red shirt and black pants combo, Ranma wondered what to do next. It was too early to go to sleep, and too late to go out. Studying was an option, but he didn't really feel like it. He'll have enough to study in the future. Training was always a good idea, but then he would have to change back into a girl and face the crazy female population of this school.

Then again, did he had to use the gym to train? He had this apartment all for himself didn't he? That meant that one room was not being used. With a grin he walked over to the other bedroom opposite his. It was exactly the same, furniture, carpet, wallpaper, bathroom and toilet except there were no windows and everything was mirrored.

'_This should do'_ Ranma nodded to himself, musing on how he would go about this. '_not as big though'_

Not wasting any time, he began moving furniture around. The two bed stands and any electronics found went in the wall closet with the double bed vertically against it, the desk was turned around and placed next to it. With a happy smile Ranma regarded his handiwork. The room was more or less empty with enough space to do some light training. There was no training-material, the carpet was not very practical and he had to be careful not to smash out walls but otherwise the room was perfect. If he really needed to stretch his legs he'd go to granny or visit the gym.

Some simple katas baptized the bedroom turned dojo. He finished off with some stretching and meditation. Happy to have stretched his legs a bit, Ranma exited the bedroom turned dojo. Sure, it didn't beat the occasional romptstomp back at home, but at least he had some way to keep sharp. Besides, in one week, this school would put a Russian brawl to shame, if past events were any indication.

It was like that in kindergarten where every year he battled Ukyo for the coolest toys, in elementary school he fought for being the first with Kenji and High school had the best food as bet, with Ryoga as opponent. Ranma had a pretty awesome time at school with the coolest toys, always being the first and the best snacks at lunchtime.

Here in university, Ranma wasn't sure what the stakes would be, but there was not a single doubt in his mind that some mindboggling, X-rated, war proportioned fight would break out sooner rather than later. The seeds were probably already planted, ready to burst open, about to start calling everybody names or something equally absurd. And there you'd have it, he'd be in the middle, would be blamed for everything, and all hope for a peaceful and serene year in college were down the drain.

Still, whatever those seeds were, and whatever stupid thing would happen, for now, all was peaceful, and the dojo was a nice way to keep him occupied while he waited for Martial Arts War No. 268.

'_Maybe I should've studied biology or somethin_g' Ranma mused '_Hmph, whatever would stop those stupid seeds would be good. Then again_,' Ranma continued, sighing _'with my luck, it are those crappy chemically manipulated seeds that resist nuclear bombs'_

Trying not to get too worked up by events that hadn't even taken place yet, Ranma wondered what to do. Usually it was exactly this craziness that kept him busy, but with no fiancées to escape, no death threats or challenges, no princess stealing his fiancées, no dragons, no demons, no curse locks, only an all-girl university where it would be incredibly awkward to change, what could he do?

'_The television, where is the television?_' Ranma did a little pirouette looking around the room "hmmm? No television to be seen." Frowning, Ranma began looking a bit more thoroughly for one, but couldn't find one.

"Oh, come on!" he groaned "in how many places can you hide a television? Besides, isn't it supposed to be one of those really fancy big ones?" he groaned. In fact, there should be a whole army of fancy technology in this room, but for the life of him, he couldn't even find a simple tape player. The only stuff he knew about was his laptop, his mobile and a fancy dim switch for the lights and an electric toothbrush that he had agreed to never use.

"Those bastards!" he mumbled. "Cheating my granny like that. It ain't because she's rich that they can just swindle her off a television." Angered, Ranma went to look for a phone.

Which was simply not to be found. Frustrated, Ranma threw himself in the sofa , sighing. '_those jackasses didn't even bother to install a phone_.' He was about to go through the challenging task of finding out how his mobile worked when he noticed a subtle button on the tea table. One of those circles with a line through it. Curious, Ranma pressed it.

Immediately the painting on front of him disappeared, the tea table top lighted up with all sorts of symbols, and the mobile began to vibrate in his hands.

"What the? My granny got my a tea table from the future," Ranma stared wide eyed at the screen and the buttons slowly lighting up under what he thought to be an ordinary tea table. The symbols in front of him were a keyboard with a keypad and F keys included. On the right was a square with its contours lighted, and on the left a set of buttons with descriptive names like "Light", "Blinds", "Phone", "Central Heating" and so on.

Curiously he moved his finger inside the square, and immediately the painting turned screen changed again, this time into a choice menu with buttons like "Television", "Movies", "Music" or "Phone", "Light", "Maps" or simply "Computer"

'_My limited knowledge of the anything goes Saotome school of technology tells me I just found the television and possibly the computer, maybe even a DVD player, and who knows, there could be a phone here as well_,' Ranma muttered to himself, moving the pointer around the screen, impressed. _'Heck, this thing can probably make coffee'_

The menu gave him a myriad of options, and each option had its own submenus. True horror in Ranma's book. Nothing like any enemy he had faced before. True he had worked with a laptop before, only because the teachers wouldn't accept handwritten reports. But he had Yukari to help him with that, a grouchy overly sceptical girl that knew everything about technology and was, surprise surprise, engaged to him.

Here he was on his own, and it didn't look like his laptop at all. Ranma however wasn't about to give up. That and he could almost hear Yukari over his shoulder sighing and clenching her teeth in irritation over the fact that he couldn't do the simplest of things with a computer.

It didn't look too complicated however. He suspected that he had to click on "Television" if he wanted to watch something. Of course, nothing was ever easy, something Ranma was awfully familiar with. A submenu with a thousand and one options appeared. Sighing, Ranma read the new options and decided that "genre" was the one he wanted. His relief was big when he saw what he expected to see, a list of all sorts of genres. It was an impressive list, and as always he wondered what answered best to his taste.

"Grmbl! a simple click on the button kind of television would've been oke as well," Ranma said wearily, while scrolling down the list of genres, watching the pop-up screens of examples. Eventually he selected "Martial Arts", hoping it would get him a martial art show.

"Language? What the? Do I need it to give my birthdate as well before I can see a show?" grumbling Ranma selected Japanese after which he asked if only spoken shows should be selected or if subtitles were also oke. Ranma went for spoken Japanese and with a definite click told the thing to remember his preference.

A list of shows appeared, all about martial arts, all playing now on one or another channel. 23 channels in total, and sixteen of those were not even Japanese. There were some more buttons to choose what kind of show: documentary, series, movies, reportage, and so on. Groaning Ranma selected a Martial Artists documentary on the Niijima channel. He already seen it, but at least Niijima was a network he knew from when television was still television.

A small screen appeared, and Ranma groaned. It told him that the show had subtitles in 7 different languages and if he wanted to select one. Grumbling about pushy systems that didn't listen he told it he didn't want any subtitle. The screen disappeared and hold and behold, the documentary appeared.

A little square in the top right corner said that if he wanted to make this channel a favourite he should press this or that button, but Ranma ignored it.

10 minutes into the show and the whole room went dark. No light, no computer, no fancy keyboard. Clenching his teeth, and more than just irritated, Ranma groaned at the incompetence of technology. _'I hope for god's sake that they won't turn Martial Art into a technology. It'd be sad to see someone malfunctioning in the middle of a battle._'

Done with technology, and tired, Ranma went to bed.

* * *

Third day, third morning, first time the alarm clock didn't go off, and Ranma blissfully went on sleeping.

Until someone insistently knocked on his door. Mumbling irritably, Ranma turned around, hoping the knocking would go. It didn't, in fact, the morning crasher resorted to banging and a loud voice belonging to Akane telling him that she had to get out of bed.

Half asleep, Ranma turned around, and saw his alarm clock blinking mockingly 01.15 at him. Scratching his head, he slowly got out of bed, trying to find his clothes.

"I'm…" Ranma was about to scream when he realised he didn't had the right voice to be a girl and ended up coughing very hard. Removing his boxers while running towards the bathroom, changing genders, and crawling into some ridiculously small panties, Ranma opened the door, wet, female and in panties.

"Hey Ranko," Akane cheerfully began as soon as the door opened. "We missed you at the breakfast table where is your bra?" she ended in one breath but not as cheerful as when she began, looking at Ranma's near nude frame.

Half asleep, eyes only half open to stop the harsh cold fluorescent corridor light, Ranma looked down at her bosom.

"Oh that," she said, looking back at Akane "I never sleep with a bra," she answered sleepily.

Akane smiled knowingly at that. One of her sisters also couldn't sleep with a bra. _'Aaah, girl problems'_ Akane sighed happily, feeling a sense of female companionship. Luckily it was only girls here, and there was no problem being open. Then again, Akane had heard some stories about some of the students who couldn't be more thrilled with girls walking around half naked feeling secure in the knowledge that there was no one ogling. Poor Ranko might be one of those naive girls that thought that here in an all-girls school no one would pay any mind to her bosom.

In fact, Akane noted with a hint of jealousy, with that bosom of hers any girl would give it attention. Whatever, she better tell her that its best to wear a bra around others.

"Yea, I heard that sleeping with a bra can be a drag," Akane began with a smile. "Just that you better…"

"Hmm? Nah," Ranma interrupted, yawning. "I just don't wear any, too weird for me"

"Okay," Akane replied wonderingly. Her first impressions about Ranko did indicate that she was proud, very proud. Maybe she just wanted to show off her breasts. "Still, you should at least wear something when coming out, there are…"

"Hmm? Why's that?" Ranma said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "It's an all-girls school, no?"

'_There you have it_,' Akane thought. '_She just doesn't know_'

"Some girls here kinda look at them like ehm… like a guy." Ranma peered at Akane trying to get what she was saying. "Not that I have a problem with that," Akane quickly defended. "It's just that, ehm, you might want to cover up or something," she looked at Ranma's chest. Ranma followed her gaze. "Buy a pyama maybe," she finished lamely.

Looking down, Ranma didn't see anything wrong, for her it was an oke chest. And shouldn't she know, being a guy and all? Heck, it looked a damn lot better than Akane's.

"I dunno," Ranma replied suspiciously. "Ain't anything wrong with them, is there? I mean, if you need to hide them, no problem, but me…"

Clenching her fist, Akane took a deep breath. "Are you saying that there is something wrong with my breasts?" she practically screamed, drawing eyes from the people around.

"What?" Ranma exclaimed. "No, course not. Just saying that because you wanna hide them, that doesn't mean I havta as well"

Sighing, Akane shook her head. "At any rate," Akane tried, hoping to leave the subject alone. "I didn't see you at breakfast so I wanted to check if maybe you overslept" she sounded a lot less cheery.

Ranma blinked "How late is it?"

Akane looked at her watch "almost 8:15" she replied, realising she better hurry along as well.

"Shiiiiit," Ranma winced as she heard the time. She ran back inside, leaving her door open. Uncomfortable, Akane stayed at the door, looking around at the now large crowd that had followed the conversation between the two.

Inside, Ranma was rummaging through her drawers looking for the matching bra. One of those things that bothered her immensely every morning: looking for a matching bra and panties. If she had any say in it, everything would be the same, but her granny would have none of it. She would and will have fashionable undies of many different kinds, fashionable and pleasing to the eyes. Ranma didn't care, for her it only resulted in her looking for a matching bra or panties every morning.

Eventually she found the bra she was looking for, a red lace bra worked over with black frilly fabric, the exact same style as her undies.

Luckily, she didn't had to choose clothes, a uniform was a uniform, but putting it on was a drag. Stockings always went on first, fastening them with a garters belt. Then came her undershirt, followed by a black pencil skirt, a white frilly button-up shirt and as a finishing touch her black vest with the school's crest on it. Black heels and out she went.

When she closed the door behind her, she noticed Akane and a large crowd behind her. '_Oh no, not this again'_

"Are you Ranko? The Martial artist?" one of the girls asked carefully

Ranma however, didn't feel like answering. "Sorry no time," she replied curtly. "Come on Akane, we've got a class to catch" suddenly all the girls seemed to realise the time and ran for their class.

* * *

Lunch. Lunch was the most important for Ranma. It meant food

And nothing would prevent her from eating, no fiancées, no dads, no granny, no demi gods, no half dragons, no bathroom products not even 4 super curious girls asking her questions, they just had to wait.

Why were they here? Ranma wondered that herself. No, scrap that, Ranma knew exactly why. It wasn't even the fact that she had shown some impressive martial art skill, though probably that still played a huge roll, no, they had found another reason, a reason Ranma was far less happy about. She got it from very reliable sources that her bosom was well appreciated. The sources being about eight notes slipped into her pockets, schoolbag, given to her in person or placed on her desk. Most of them were subtle enough, some even poetic, praising her beauty. However that poetry came down to the same thing five other notes said as well, that she had sexy boobs, just worded differently.

Ranma was proud of her breasts, she even won a contest with them once. Having girls going after them however was something else.

The thing was that she had no idea how to discourage them. She had plenty of experience trying, mind you, but it hadn't worked till now, and it obviously didn't work here either. The only difference was that these girls didn't lust after her guy, but girl side. Something she honestly didn't expect.

CRASH BOUNCE FONDLE "Oops, so sorry," the girl excused herself and quickly scurried away, a big grin on her lips.

Ranma sighed. That was the fifth girl falling over her feet. And apparently all felt like straightening themselves using her breasts as leverage.

Some people called Ranma trusting, something she agreed with. She always began with trust, only after they betray that trust did she start mistrusting. Other people went so far to call her naïve, something she flat-out denied, she was trusting that's all. But no matter what anyone called her, after the all the bumps, and fondles she began suspecting that these girls had a hidden agenda. The fact that it were most of the time the same girls having accidents around her made her all the more suspicious.

The thing was that she didn't know what to do about it. When it was a guy, she could kick him into the next ward. It would only last until the boy in question found his way back, but it gave her at least some time off. Not with these girls, she couldn't kick those 5 girls intro another ward. That was just plain wrong.

So patiently she let it be.

Sighing, she accepted the girls' apology and gave the group of four girls somewhere at the back of the table a dirty stare when they sighed dreamily.

"Unbelievable," Hitomi said irritated, playing with her spoon.

"What?" Ranma asked sharply, daring the girl to come up with a solution.

"You're just letting them bump into you like that? That's the, what? Fifth girl in half an hour tripping over her own feet like that? Give me a break," shaking her head, Hitomi rolled her eyes.

"You tell me!" Ranma said indignantly

"And for what?" she went on. "I mean, yea I also heard the reports by now, I even saw the pictures. You've got great breasts, big deal"

"Hey, they are Really nice breasts," Ranma corrected. She was about to put another piece meat in her mouth when something hit her.

"What? Pictures?" Ranma exclaimed loudly

The four girls – the four that all happened to trip - at the back of the table sighed, looking dreamily at something on their mobile

Hitomi stared disinterested towards the group of four, then looked back at Ranma. "You bet, a whole series of you in panties talking with a girl with short black hair"

Ranma shook her head, but went on eating.

"In certain circles, you're the semi couple now" Hitomi said in an offhand manner, as if it really didn't interest her. She looked up to gauge Ranma's reaction.

She just shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever, it ain't the first time anyway. Usually its boys though that can't get their minds out of the gutter" Ranma frowned. "What's a semi couple anyway? And with whom?"

Hitomi groaned, giving Ranma the impression that she really ought to know stuff like that. "They want to fantasise about you, and what better way to fantasise than with another girl that might be your lover. I mean, short hair like that," Hitomi said matter-of-factly, raising her eyebrows, looking at something on her mobile. "For lezzys, she has lezzy written all over her."

While munching on food, Ranma shook her head. "Oh come on. With that temper. Besides, if they are so crazy about breasts, then they are at the wrong address with her, she's as flat as a plank"

One of the four sighed heavily "She has already seen her naked."

Ranma stared dangerously at the girl. "What? Hell no! I was sparring with her; everyone saw that she was flat."

"You two do make quite a couple," Hitomi said teasingly, still looking at her mobile. "You, the super gifted martial artist, she the clumsy one, tripping over her own feet."

"Humph, don't hold your heart" Ranma frowned and went on eating.

"At any rate," Hitomi went on, putting her mobile away. "If they agreed that you were a couple, it would mean that you aren't free anymore, something they don't want to think about, so they call it a semi couple." She finished with a straight face.

"Whatever," Ranma replied rolling her eyes at the silliness of it all. "If they only knew how much I am not free anymore"

That made Hitomi look up, "You've got a boy?"

Not only Hitomi was interested, the four suddenly had their ears perked, waiting with scared hearts what Ranma would say. Actually, the whole table was interested in Ranma's answer.

"Not a boy," Ranma said through munching. The four girls squealed in delight, but immediately stopped when Ranma fixed them with a hard stare.

"So it is a girl," Hitomi was not in the least impressed.

"Actually," Ranma said, shoving her plate in front of her, and cleaning her lips with a hanky. "It is impossible to explain"

Hitomi frowned. "What's so difficult about it?" she demanded. "Do you have a girlfriend, yes or no?"

Ranma thought about that for a bit. Did being engaged to multiple girls mean that they were her girlfriends? She figured they weren't "Nope."

"Are you married then?"

Ranma shook her head

"Well, whatever" Hitomi said with a sigh. "You don't have to tell me. Just that, if you did have a girl or guy, they might stop bugging you."

That got Ranma to cheer up.

"Then again," Hitomi went on dryly, looking at her nails. "They might also look for her or him and beat her or him up. Some of the girls here, you wouldn't believe what they are capable off"

Ranma shoulders slumped. Almost, almost a solution. It wasn't that she was afraid that they would beat up Ukyo, Shampoo, Yukari, Kodachi or Asuka Mori. They could try of course, but they would probably get their asses kicked seriously, and then questioned how they know about their Ranma, and it wouldn't be long before they'd find their way back here.

"What a mess," Ranma said disappointingly

"Oh cheer up. So you've got a bit of attention, you don't strike me as the shy type." Ranma wasn't sure, but she almost, almost sensed a hint of jealousy.

Playing a bit with her chopsticks, Ranma mused about that. She wasn't shy, that was true, but it wasn't like they had ever given her a choice. She always got attention, whether she wanted it or not.

"I ain't shy, sure, but that doesn't make it ok for them to constantly touch my breasts," Ranma said irritably.

"Point. I'd say, sit out it out," Hitomi said, turning towards the four girls, who then just happen to look away. "They usually lose interest after a month or so"

Ranma felt a but, she was going to say 'but', she knew it. Besides, it was the only logical thing to say. If things were left to themselves, they went from bad to worse. That was a fact of life.

"But…" Hitomi went on.

"Hah !" Ranma exclaimed triumphically

"What?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Go on"

Hitomi shook her head, but went on. "But sometimes they obsess so much that you're gonna have to live with it all four years. You're redheaded, with pretty breasts, a cute face, expert martial artist with a rough voice." Hitomi held Ranma's gaze for a bit before dealing the deathblow.

"You're fucked for all four years I'd say" she finished with a slight smile.

"Thanks for nothing," Ranma said sticking out her tongue.

"Oh, don't take it so bad, just watch your roommate that she doesn't get a chance to hide a camera in the bathroom"

"Yea well, good thing I don't have a roommate" Ranma was really, really happy about that now. She wouldn't know how work that. No matter what kind of girl would be living with her, she knew that if those crazy lezzy girls wanted a picture of her naked, they would find something to convince that possible roommate. Ranma knew, she had life experience.

Hitomi was frowning though. "What?" Ranma asked.

"How come you don't have a roommate," she asked curiously.

"I just don't" Ranma has no idea what the deal was. Her granny was rich, she made sure that there was no one to find out about her curse.

"Otsuma doesn't have single rooms" Hitomi blinked, curious at how come she was living alone.

"My granny arranged that," and good thing she did, Ranma thought to herself.

"No, No, I mean. Otsuma does not have single rooms. No matter how rich, influential or noble the family is, you can't have a single room, not in this campus." Hitomi was totally sure about her case, and peering at Ranma, as if to see if she was telling the truth.

"Are you saying I'm lying here?" Ranma defended, irritated at the girls denial of what she just said.

"I'm not," Hitomi replied curtly. "But to have a room at Otsuma's you have to reserve it three years in advance. Houses around here are all sold for huge sums of money,and are incredibly popular, but even there, you'll be hard pressed to find total privacy."

"I dunno about all that, I just know that I live alone. Maybe the girl that was supposed to live with me decided to go somewhere else"

Hitomi shook her head "I doubt it, if a girl is away for even a week, the school wants to know, so as to rent it to someone else for that week, demand is that high."

"then I dunno" Ranma finished, shrugging.

"Unless" Hitomi stared straight in Ranmas eyes

"Unless" Ranma repeated

"Unless you live in the haunted apartment" she said, as if she was talking about fish.

"I don't know," Ranma said, raising her eyebrows. "Do I?"

"Where do you live?"

"You know where I live"

"Oh yea, ehm" Hitomi looked at her nails again, obviously in thought. "Yes"

Ranma frowned. "Yes what?"

"Yes, you live in the haunted place. Explains it all really. That place belonged to a student that committed suicide because her roommate broke up with her. Since then her spirit doesn't allow anyone anymore to be her roommate." She smiled, and then frowned. "Strange though that they would rent it to you, that place had 42 different occupants in one year, since then they decided not to rent it out again."

"Didn't notice any ghosts," and Ranma knew about ghosts, and knew how to find them. They could be a pain, but could be awesome as well. "What does she do?"

"At first simple things like cutting electricity"

"What's so bad about that?"

"Can't shave your legs, can't dry your hair, can't use a computer, or watch the television. Afterwards it starts to mess with alarm clocks making the student come late, doors start to open and close, lots of racket, whispering," as if she was recalling a grocery list.

"Sounds like a pretty tame ghost to me" ghosts were supposed to scare the living hell out of you, try to grab your soul and stuff like that. Not block electricity. It did explain the electricity failure yesterday.

"Irritating enough to scare away all its inhabitant. To be honest, I wouldn't last long in such a place" Hitomi confessed.

"I guess I'll find out soon enough," Ranma said casually. "At any rate, times up, class's starting"

All girls, plate in hand, walked over to the counter to put it away. When walking out of the cafeteria Ranma noticed a group of girls that apparently everyone wanted to stay clear off.

"Who are they?" Ranma asked curiously

Hitomi looked at where Ranma was pointing, and smirked. "That's Nabiki Tendo, resident betting operator. If you want to bet on this and that, or information about something in school, or have some rumours spread around, she's the one to go to. Thing is that she's expensive, and this year her prices almost doubled. Rumour has it that she has to support an ill uncle or something." Hitomi smiled when realising something. "You might want to pay her a visit, spread the rumour around that you are not available, or even better, that you have some weird skin disease. You seem to have the money to buy small countries anyway"

Ranma pensively looked how everyone was walking around in circles around her. She really didn't want any rumour about her possibly having a skin disease. Rumours about her love life were even worse. But she wondered if hat girls unpopularity would match her popularity. Besides, that name rang a bell, she had heard it before.


	4. Students' Hardships

**Then Less Than Then,**

Chapter 4,

Students' Hardships

Based on the series Ranma ½, written by Rumiko Takahashi

revised... again (07/07/2011)

For unknown reasons, Ranma didn't go to the Tendos, didn't meet them and didn't have any problems. Instead he went to Granny Saotome, met her rich friends, got a new set of problems and now has to enter an all girl's university attended as well by Akane and Nabiki, and ... many many, many others

**Authors notes**

Since I removed my notes on all chapters, I'll explain some stuff here:

First of all, contrary to slightly implying a possible romance between Akane and Ranma, I do not intend to write about this. In fact, I'm not sure if I'll even include romance.

Next: Hitomi. She's getting a lot of screen time, certainly in the following chapter. I'm sincerely hoping that she is not, and will not become and annoying new character. She is no martial artist, no special abilities, no nice character, no green eyes, no astonishing beauty, hopefully no ANC.

There's been a worry in the reviews about this story being a total new setting while using just Ranma's name (Iron lad). Ironically, that's a critique I gave many other stories here, and now I seem to be doing it myself. I read the reviews, and reread the story (and here and there went over some flaws), and I have to agree. No matter how you look at it, I've placed everyone in a new setting. I do hope I stay true to everyone's character, because; regardless of the new setting, everyone should be IC according to volume 38 (though I have the sneaking suspicion I'm making Ranma a tad too grumpy)

Akirosette, put up a good point about both my summary (in this case, I'm going to push my story more towards my summary, and not the other way around). Regardless of the lack of romance, conflict will come, and taking the form of everything else from the manga. Oh, and I got rid of overtly lesbianism (5 instead of 30) (I exaggerated, and I apologize).

About the chaos I'm advertising: I hope this chapter offers a nice start 'BonusPoints'?

About Yukari and Asuka Mori that I mentioned in the previous chapter. Ranma has had a different past, and with a different past comes different people. Asuka Mori is sort of a proud noble girl (like Kodachi, but totally different ), and Yukari is a science wiz. You'll meet them when Ranma's real life starts catching up with her.

* * *

Fourth day, and second time someone knocked loudly on her door.

Groggily and disorientated, Ranma lifted her head. Looking around her, she became aware of her surroundings and immediately wanted to go back to bed.

"Hey Ranma, you awake?" Akane asked screaming from the other side of the door and knocking again to make sure Ranma was awake.

Ranma groaned, cursing the fact that her dream wasn't reality. A nice dream about being far away from any girls-only place, or university and city for that matter. She was again in China, trekking through dense forests, visiting shrines and temples and learning new techniques, sharpening her skills. Waking up in a reality where she was 1) a girl 2) in an all-girls university 3) not doing any martial arts, was not a good start of the day.

Her self-pitying was interrupted by Akane once more knocking and asking if she had woken up. Tiredly Ranma rolled over and answered that she had woken, and that'd she'd join them in a couple of minutes.

Not trusting her clock, Ranma had asked Akane to wake her up. Akane had agreed with a smile, readily wanting to help Ranma. She didn't really ask anything about the habitant ghost explanation, she only shrugged, which surprised Ranma. Any mention of ghosts was usually answered with a laugh and disbelief. Akane had no such reaction, seemed to believe it without a blink and agreed cheerfully to wake her up.

A good thing apparently, because as Ranma suspected her clock was once again resetted. Groaning about all the problems of having another ghost problem, Ranma set straight up, and yawned as she tried to get her arse out of the bed. Scratching beneath her left breasts, Ranma stumbled towards the bathroom taking a quick shower. Naked, she went to her wall closet, and grumbled a couple of more curses as she saw that all her clothes were wrinkled, her socks were all thrown together and matching panties and bras were now lying in one big chaotic pile in the middle of her dresser.

Clenching her teeth, and with a strained smile, Ranma took the first panty she saw – a beige – and tried to find the matching bra which she found relatively easy. Socks were easy since she only had 5 different sets of pairs idem for her stockings. All her school outfits were wrinkled, so it didn't really matter which one she'd choose, so she took the one that looked least wrinkled.

More or less decent, Ranma went into the centre room and sat down, organising her satchel. She watched her school schedule and frowned as the first course she had was 'Economic history of China' given by C.L. Lau. Sighing about some probably very boring historical course on how come China was historically meant to have a planned economy and more of that. Not happy with how this day was going, Ranma just shook her head and put all books she needed in her bag and left the room.

The trip to the cafeteria was a short one. The large eating hall lay half beneath the dormitory's half under the building with lecture halls and classrooms, easy access to both.

Greeting by a couple of girls Ranma didn't know, she exited the elevator and walked over to the cafeteria. Looking at the people sitting at the tables, she tried to spot Akane. As she scanned all the faces, she noticed that she had quite a bit of attention. Half of the girls she made eyecontact with offered a seat at their table. Smiling gently, Ranma shook her head, and continued to look for Akane. Akane had said that she was gonna sit next to the windows somewhere in the middle of the cafeteria. As Ranma again shook her head at another invitation, she heard a familiar voice calling her name. Looking around, she saw Akane waving. Glad to have found her, Ranma smiled and went over to the table.

There were two other girls sitting at the table. Mitsune and Sayuri, Mitsune had curly black hair and though rather plain, had an easy smile. Sayuri had a pretty face with unusual auburn hair tied with a red ribbon in a ponytail and had a strange lopsided smile.

"So you're the Ranko who's not interested in true love?" Sayuri remarked, looking at Ranma from above her miso soup.

Frowning, Akane turned to her friend. "Sayuri, what kind of an opening is that? So what if she's not looking?"

Shrugging Sayuri continued eating her soup.

Smiling, Ranma sat down next to Sayuri and across Akane. "Hello to you to," Sayuri smiled, put her soup down, and greeted her back.

"Did you sleep well?" Akane asked curiously. She knew about the ghost, so Ranma reasoned it was more than just a question to make conversation.

"I slept pretty well, only waking up was kinda a drag," Ranma pointed at her clothes, demonstrating the wrinkles by trying to unwrinkle her shirt. "Guess she doesn't like my taste in clothing a lot," she added with a smirk '_something she and I agree on'_

Sayuri seemed unimpressed; in fact, she smiled at Ranma's comment knowingly. Mitsune on the other hand frowned, obviously not knowing what the problem was. "What do you mean? Did somebody come into your room and wrinkle your clothes?" There was a bit of worry in her tone.

"Something like that," Ranma said idly. "At any rate, I'm going to get me some breakfast"

Apparently Sayuri was a fellow student of Akane. She initially wanted to go to Nihon University as well, but her parents, both modestly wealthy decided that if Akane can go to Otsuma's to study literature, so can she. She was easy going, with a quick smile, kind of witty with always a smart remark at the ready. Regardless, she was all into romance and involuntarily Ranma had to join a conversation about boys. A good opportunity for her to concentrate on eating, if it wasn't for the fact that they always tried to include her. Then there was Mitsune. She was the daughter of a manager of a supermarket chain. Initially her parents wanted her to study economics as well, but she convinced her parents to let her study literature as well. Nice enough girl, but missed some backbone.

As they were about to get up to go to their respective classes, Hitomi walked over to the table.

"Hey Ranko" she greeted while chewing on some gum giving the three other girls at the table a quick nod. "Guess you got some ghost problems after all," Hitomi pointed to Ranma's wrinkled clothes, trying herself to unwrinkled them a bit.

"Ghost? What ghost?" Mitsune said worriedly, turning to Hitomi. Sayuri sighed and Akane shook her head.

Hitomi continued to rearrange Ranma's clothes, while answering Mitsune question with another question "you don't know about the Ghost of Otsuma's University?" but obviously not really interested in what Mitsune had to say.

"No, not really" Mitsune answered shyly, apparently a bit ashamed that she was the only one not knowing about it.

tilting her head , Hitomi examined Ranma, trying to find how to get her to look a bit more decent. "Well, Otsuma's has its very own ghost. Everyone knows about it and she's living at Ranko's place," Hitomi sighed, shaking her head while looking at Ranma's state. Ranma didn't know what the problem was.

"So they are a bit wrinkled, that's not such a biggy, is it?"

"Seriously girl, you can't go like this. There isn't a problem with wrinkled clothes, but you have to adjust, you know?"

"Obviously I don't" Ranma answered with a hint of frustration. "Is this all necessary? Besides, everyone's looking… again" Ranma illustrated her point by looking at all the people around her. Akane and Sayuri followed her gaze, surprised that indeed they had garnered some curious stares.

"How come we have a ghost?" Mitsune asked with a small voice

Hitomi ignored Mitsune's question, instead she took Ranma's shirt out of her skirt, and lifted her skirt a bit to show more leg. "Of course they are looking, I'd think you'd be used to it by now." Again Ranma noticed that slight hint of jealousy in her voice.

"What? Because I have wrinkled clothes?"

"Nope, they know why you have wrinkled clothes." Hitomi went on adjusting Ranma's attire by opening two top buttons, showing quite a bit more breast.

"What? How do they know?" Ranma knew rumours and facts spread incredibly fast in schools, but this was ridiculous.

"I told them," Hitomi said idly, continuing to tinker with Ranma's appearance and removing her vest, putting it across her satchel.

"Why would you do that? Don't I have enough attention as it is?"

"I could've shut up, but then they would've found sooner or later. Now they've got straight and true answers and no rumours flying around. Besides, this way, students don't draw wrong conclusions from the wrinkled state you're in," Hitomi answered with a clear undertone that Ranma should in fact be grateful

"And girls won't draw wrong conclusions if you make me look like a first class hooker?" Ranma asked frowning, looking at how she looked.

"Seriously Ranko, this isn't a question about which conclusions they might make but on style. You can't just go about in wrinkled clothes without adjusting your style to it," Hitomi said, frowning back at Ranma.

"I agree with her, Ranko." Sayuri said. Akane followed the whole spectacle with a smile on her face. She didn't know a lot about style, fashion and clothes, so she just watched Ranma squirm.

"I dunno," unsure, Ranma tinkered a bit with her open shirt. "I don't see anyone else dressed like this."

"Oh, don't worry about that, enough punk girls walking around like this."

Unsure, Ranma stared at Hitomi, "Punk girls? I hope that has nothing to do with pink?"

"Budha on skates, seriously Ranko, don't you know anything?"

"Apparently I don't. But as long as I don't get any more attention I don't care. It's already bad enough as it is," Ranma answered calmly. She grabbed her satchel and once again tried to get some wrinkles out of her clothes.

"What's your problem with attention anyway?" Hitomi asked, readjusting her own satchel.

"I ain't got a problem with attention. It's the wrong kind of attention that bothers me. And making me look like a pink punk hooker seems like a great source for some gratuitous wrong sort of attention"

Hitomi shook her head, and sighed. "oke, one, you don't look like a hooker, and two, pink has nothing to do with this, three, You can either go with wrinkled clothes and look like a loser who doesn't care how she looks, or like a fashionable girl who is flexible and adjust to her surroundings"

The whole 'adjusting to surroundings' thing sounded familiar to Ranma. In a way it was just like Martial arts, adjusting to the environment, being flexible, changing tactics when something else doesn't work. Who had known there was martial art of fashion? Well, Ranma knew and thought she was pretty good at it. But then she never imagined fashion mattered anywhere else besides on the battlefield (this battlefield being the catwalk).

"Besides," Hitomi continued. "You think after all those martial arts, your hair colour, the breasts, and sharing a room with a ghost it really matters how you dress? People will pay attention. Just go with it"

"I guess," Ranma agreed eventually. "So, should I hang with punk people?"

"You can. Or you can just come with me to class" Hitomi adjusted her satchel again, indicating she was ready to go. Ranma greeted Akane, Sayuri and Mitsune and then went off to class.

* * *

"So, any idea what this Economic history of China' is all about?" Ranma asked.

"No clue," Hitomi said, while walking the stairs. "It's a new course. Guess with China becoming economically more important they want to give it a bit more attention."

"Don't they have this completely different system over there?" Ranma asked, a bit irked that she didn't really know anything about it, even though she had been in China so long.

"You mean communism?" Hitomi offered, "Sure, probably it'll be a course about China's historical development towards communism and how it's now a combination of both."

Ranma's stomach filled with dread at the idea of having to learn more than one economical system. Capitalism was bad enough, and she had seen lots of capitalism during her preparations.

"Hmm, Lau, that sounds Chinese," Ranma mused. It sounded kind off familiar now that she thought about it. C.L. Lau, where had she seen that name before?

"She's supposed to be this really smart Chinese woman who knows everything about it," one of Hitomi's friends supplied helpfully.

"A teacher history straight from the mainland?"

"Yea, she's supposed to be really wise, and really small," another friend said. Confused, Hitomi turned to her friend, "small? What do you mean?"

"Like I said, she's supposed to be really small"

Ranma's stomach filled with even more dread, and not because she disliked having history of Chinese economics given by a diminutive Chinese woman. "Chinese, wise, small and knows lots about history, and this course has only been introduced this year…"

"What a coincidence to meet you here, daughter in law, or should I say 'Ranko'?," a sharp old rusty cackling behind her confirmed Ranma's fear. Instinctively, Ranma turned around, her fist ready to attack the old Chinese woman. Laughing Cologne evaded, pogoing away as Ranma continued his advance.

Everyone around stared in amazement as Ranma attacked their 300+ old teacher from China.

Eventually, Ranma stopped attacking. "What the hell are you doing here? How do you even know I'm here?"

"Well Ranko, as easy it is to hide your intentions from your…" Cologne looked around her, seeing the large amount of spectators they had, and chuckled. "From your friends, but you don't fool this 300 year old amazon."

"Look, old mummy, I'm here to learn. No fighting, no fiancées, no nothing of that," Ranma stated heated. She knew things were going to go wrong really fast really soon, but she had hoped it'd take a bit more than four days.

"Don't worry Ranko. As you are here to learn, I am here to teach," Cologne replied, suddenly very serious. "in fact, I take teaching very seriously as you'll notice soon. So please Ranko, and everyone in fact, enough chitchatting, lecture will begin in a minute." And with that, Cologne pogoed into the lecture hall. Ranma couldn't do anything besides staring as she went inside.

"Stupid question," Hitomi said curiously. "but do you know her?"

Ranma scratched her scalp, "kinda, or at least, I thought I did." Ranma answered, unsure what to make of all this.

"Hmm, at least, this will be a blast when you start explaining all this," Hitomi finished with a huge grin on her face.

Ranma turned around, not knowing what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean? Seriously Ranko" Hitomi gave Ranma a huge grin, "besides the fact that you just attacked an old lady – which I admit was incredibly impressive – and that said lady apparently had no problem evading you, and that you know her well enough to be on insult-calling basis, which I believe is thanks to the fact that you are her daughter in law by grace of… I am to believe, multiple fiancées. Oh, and you're here incognito apparently."

Ranma gulped, that was indeed quite a bit of information she had there. "Please, don't tell anyone. Just keep it for yourself"

"come'on Ranma, what do you think? Look around you?" and Ranma did as she asked and saw around 40 girls looking curiously at her. "Would me telling anything really matter? I bet at this moment around 6 girls will be skipping this class for some gratuitous rumour spreading. At least with me, I'll be telling some kind of sensible story. Other girls will make it into a story with you being caught by Chinese and forced to marry multiple girls against your will and that you fled to Japan to start life anew incognito in Otsuma University."

"I'm in such deep shit," Ranma balked, thinking it couldn't get much worse.

Hitomi smiled, "Don't you worry about that." She put her arm around Ranko's slumped shoulders as they walked into the classroom "We'll go later over the specifics on how to perform some much needed rumour control on this one. For now let's see what this woman has to tell us"

* * *

"That was one mean class. Seriously, if there was one course I'd expect to be a snoozer, it'd be this one, but she proved me wrong. That woman can tell stories," excited, Hitomu continued being amazed about Cologne's class. "Seriously, how much stuff does she know? And the anecdotes she tells, super and to the point." Thrilled with her introduction into the history of Chinese economics, Hitomi skimmed the pages of her workbook.

Bored, Ranma leaned over, her head supported by her arm, while playing with a pencil, while lying on a grass field. "She's 300, and she doesn't forget a thing, believe me." Ranma was not a happy girl. It wasn't bad enough that she had class from one of her opponents/teachers/superiors, or whatever the hell she was, no, she had to be good at it. Even Ranma had to admit that she couldn't feint disinterest in her course. Add to that, that part of her was thrilled to be hearing about a country she felt so close to. Trekking through China had not only taught her a great deal, it also brought her closer to the country. Now hearing Cologne talk about it, touched some strings in Ranma that hadn't been touched before.

In a way, she was as enthusiastic as Hitomi was, in another it grated that it was Cologne giving the course. Hitomi commented on the fact that it must be cool that she knew the best teacher in university personally, but in this case, it really wasn't. a small part of her disagreed and did think it was cool that she knew her personally even as a sort of adversary, that part however was smashed to bits by not only having class from her, but also that she had so easily found Ranma, got a teaching job in this university, and now was one of her teachers and to top it all, knew that she was one of the only guys in this school.

What surprised Ranma above all was the way Cologne taught. She couldn't really write a lot on the blackboard being so small and all. So she had used some really well made PowerPoint slides. That woman knew more about computers then she did. How embarrassing was that?

"Seriously? 300?" Hitomi asked curiously, but obviously not believing a single bit of it. "She doesn't look a day over 90"

"Believe me, I get 300 years of amazon tradition smashed into my face on a regular basis - literally" groaning, Ranma leaned backwards and made herself comfortable on the grass. To avoid crowds and curious people, they – Ranma, Hitomi and some others – decided to eat somewhere a bit more private.

"Yea, I noticed," Hitomi changed positions to be closer to Ranma. "What was that all about anyway?"

Groaning, Ranma shook her head. "Too complicated. Maybe I'll tell you later." When Hitomi started to roll with her eyes, Ranma sighed "I can't explain you 300 years of amazon tradition and a happy disaster on a lunch break in a park."

"Yea well, maybe," Hitomi said pointedly. "But what are you gonna do about you kicking a 300 year old amazon?" the last part was more jokingly added to continue what she thought was Ranko joking.

Balking about that little stunt, Ranma sat straight up to look Hitomi in the face. "Argh, I wish I could just forget about all that. Can't we just act like it didn't happen? Wouldn't people lose interest in it after a while?"

Smirking Hitomi shook her head with poorly contained mirth. "As long as you're following class in this university, you'll be hearing about it." Hitomi explained, and Ranma believed her. Not because Hitomi seemed to know a lot about the social flow in a school, but because Ranma knew from experience how such things went. She also didn't want a repeat of such experience.

"So," Ranma said awkwardly. "What do you propose we do?"

"I don't really know," Hitomi answered lightly. It did bother Ranma slightly that the girl didn't seem to care very much about anything, not the attack, not the pictures, or that she shared a room with a ghost. "I usually spread rumours and gossip, not stop it," Hitomi finished with a slight smile.

"Thanks for the help," Ranma added sarcastically.

"Sheesh, lighten up will you," Hitomi answered back with a frown. "I said I'd try to help, didn't I?"

As fast as Ranma frowned, so fast her face cleared up. "You will? Man, thanks Hitomi. That would be awesome," and before Hitomi could react, Ranma gave her a quick hug. "Seriously, I appreciate this."

"Sure," Hitomi replied with a smile. "Anyway, at the moment I don't really know what the best plan of action is. Since some people here know me as a total gossiper they'll probably come to me for some first-hand juice." Her last words were said slowly, and doubtful as if she herself wasn't really sure she wanted to think about it. "I could maybe spread some more preferable rumours? Something that you'd like as a rumour?" Hitomi's friends turned around, and looked at Hitomi as if she had grown a second head. frowning, Hitomi shot them a nasty look.

"What are you guys looking at?" mumbling something under her breath Hitomi turned away. "Making rumours nicer shouldn't be so much harder than making them nastier." This little comment made her friends laugh even louder. Hitomi indignantly rolled her eyes, and just watched her friends levelly.

Blinking, Ranma scratched her scalp, not really sure what to make of this. She assumed Hitomi was not the type above gossiping illustrated by her constant analysis of all teachers, including stuff that she had heard. She also played the role with her abundance of sparks and bells and glitters. In a way, Hitomi was incredibly feminine in every way that Ranma not wanted to be feminine. That's why it scared Ranma that Hitomi had changed her dresscode to look punk. While it only were some minor adjustments like opening top buttons (something Ranma was not above either if it got her a victory), and wearing her shirt out of her skirt, it was done by someone who put Japanese starlets to shame. It better not was the start of looking like Hitomi on a daily basis. She had enough of that as it was anyway.

And what was up with those friends of hers anyway? They were all kind of copies of Hitomi, also with jewellery, make-up, extensive hairdo's, purses, and whatnot, and gleefully joined in whenever nasty news (NNs) was discussed. What was the deal with them now making arses of themselves by making fun of her?

On the way back, Ranma asked a friend's of Hitomi what the problem was. Yuno, a curly brunette who reminded Ranma of someone else. She had this southern accent that sounded familiar, "Well now Ranko. Part of the pleasure in spreading rumour and gossip is a delight in the possible scandalous situations that might be present in school life. Are they true? Half of the time nothing of it has any truth, but it changes an intensely boring environment into a playground where the craziest stuff can happen," she looked at Ranma who frowned and was obviously disgusted. She smiled innocently and without missing a beat continued, "Oh, we know that making school life more interesting at the expense of others is not exactly ethical. Take into account however that it is not all about dirty and nasty stories – though these of course are the most interesting and juiciest – when something sweet, nice and extraordinary happens, we're the first to spread the word making all the more sweeter," she finished gloriously, as if explaining a religion. And who knows, maybe it was.

Ranma blinked, trying to understand all of it. "So if I get this right, the reason you guys laughed is because…," Yuno continued for Ranma, explaining, "Hitomi, a girl with karma as dark as coal, would now choose to deform a sweet story – a story that is actually true for once - into something ordinary, something not worth people's attention instead of spicing it up and making you look like a violent maniac attacking old Chinese teachers because of racial problems."

Ranma smiled, impressed by how Hitomi possibly would change her attitude for Ranma's sake. That hadn't happened a lot.

"Of course," Yuno continued, whispering to Ranma and keeping her eyes on Hitomi who was walking far in front of them and out of earshot. "Don't believe a word what she said. Better prepare to find some pretty horrible rumours tomorrow."

Completely horrified by how this girl – claiming to be Hitomi's friend – just told her that she was a lying and manipulative bitch. "Jeez, how can you say that about your friend?" Ranma asked, scandalized.

The girl shrugged, "oh, Hitomi's a good friend of mine, don't doubt that. But she is not above lying. Just giving a friendly warning there Ranko. You seem pretty naïve about these things."

This comment more or less hung around Ranma's mind the rest of the day, and unconsciously Ranma evaded Hitomi who didn't seem all that bothered by it. Normally, she'd be in Hitomi's face the moment she had heard Yuno's words, but then she hadn't even given Hitomi a chance. Somehow, she wanted to wait until tomorrow before making a mess with Hitomi, besides, Ranma didn't believe the girl, Hitomi seemed like a really nice girl.

* * *

In the cafeteria Ranma met up with Akane, Sayuri and Mitsune and asked what they thought about it. All three girls grimaced, Mitsune being the worst and seemed to be on the verge of crying. Sayuri shook her head, and looked straight into Akane's eyes.

"Akane?" Sayuri said seriously, looking said girl in the eyes.

"What? She's my sister oke? Not me," Akane vehemently protested. "I can't tell my sister what to do or not"

"Huh?" Ranma asked, having no idea what this was about.

"You remember that sister I talked about?" Akane asked Ranma with a hint of weary frustration, as if she didn't feel like going through it again. "Well, she was exactly like that in my high school. Spreading rumours about everyone, teachers, students, staff – in and outside school"

Smiling sourly, Sayuri added some more juice. "The worst part of it all is that she sells these rumours. And students – anxious to spice up a bit of boring school life – just pay to know."

"She makes money selling rumours?" Ranma asked incredulous.

Sayuri looked Ranma straight in her eyes. "Yes, and if she and her clique of friends get the chance, they'll also be running a betting office, sell pictures, sell out other people, anything to make money," Sayuri went on, as if she knew exactly what she was talking about. Ranma just shook her head; not understanding what drove a girl to make a business like that and what was wrong with students paying for something like that.

"You must've been a lucky girl then Akane," Ranma said with a small smile, turning towards Akane. Ranma's smile turned awkward when Akane frowned, sighed and shook her head.

"You mean that she'd spare me because I'm family?" Akane said cynically. Ranma sighed, and wondered about Akane's sister that would make her this cynical. It didn't seem to suit Akane at all. "If there's one victim to my sisters money hungriness, then I can say without any doubt that, that person would be me, and I'm not playing the victim role here," and Ranma believed her. She didn't seem the girl to victimize herself.

Sayuri nodded in agreement, "initially I couldn't believe what Akane's sister did, but eventually you just kind of go with it. Sometimes even Nabiki's money schemes got us out some pretty nasty situations, though usually it took some serious force"

"I bet Akane was a great help then?" Ranma jokingly added.

Sayuri lighted up, "Indeed she was." Akane on the other hand just groaned. For her and Ranma 'serious force' had some completely different connotation.

Sayuri, not understanding what she had said looked confused at Akane rolling her eyes, and Ranma snickering. "What did I say?" Sayuri asked frowning, "You should've seen her against the principal. It took some force to get the coconuts out of him"

After a second of blinking, both Akane and Sayuri laughed out loud, and it was Ranma's turn to blink, not understanding the joke.

Sayuri, Akane and Ranma talked on for a bit longer. Eventually each went their dorm's way.

* * *

Arriving at her apartment, Ranma put her bag on the table, and decided to talk to a certain spirit. Her apartment was a complete mess, and it wasn't Ranma's doing. Pillows lay all over the place, paintings hung skewed on the wall, chairs were haphazardly placed everywhere, her cover was thrown somewhere in the corner, and all her bathroom stuff was just thrown in the sink.

Groaning, Ranma decided to make some house rules as soon as she found the ghost in question. Ranma spread her arms, closed her eyes and began concentrating. Slowly letting her surrounding drift into her, get one with it, make herself the centre of her apartment, she tried to distinguish another centre.

Sure enough there was one, moving about in the bedroom. Eyes closed, trying to maintain her centre Ranma walked slowly towards the bedroom. The spirit stood still. Slowly Ranma moved towards the spirit, and tripped over her own bedcover. Concentration lost, and irritated, Ranma moved everything from the ground on the bed, and restarted.

The spirit was still there, more or less on the same place, and seemed to be observing Ranma. Slowly Ranma moved toward her until she stood right in front of her. The spirit only moved a bit back, something that doesn't happen a lot. In Ranma's experience, spirits usually stay clear of living beings.

Eyes still closed, Ranma thought on how to address the spirit. Usually it was a pretty straightforward case of asking said spirit to stop what the hell she was doing. Since this one was actually a student here, lived here, and was a girl, Ranma felt she just couldn't directly ask her to stop. Not knowing what else to say to the spirit, she went for something simple.

"Hi," Ranma said.

Patiently, Ranma waited. Usually ghosts got rid of their whole invisible thing, and became ethereal making communication so much easier.

This spirit however didn't. She moved in the direction of her desk. A pen and paper began floating in the air to be put on the desk. There, Ranma – having opened her eyes – saw the spirit was writing something.

"Hi." She had a nice handwriting

"ehm… How's it going?"

"At the moment not so good"

"Why's that?"

"You"

"Let me guess, I'm disturbing your peace?"

"kinda"

"Sorry 'bout that"

"You can just leave"

"But I really kinda need to study here, so I have to stay here"

"I really kinda need you to get out, so I'll keep bothering you until you do"

"Seriously? Can't we just make a truce or something? "

"No we can't"

"Oh come'on"

"seriously? No!"

"Please"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you here"

"But I'm pretty cool"

"You're a pervert"

"Ugh, not this again"

"…"

"Look,…" before she could say anything though, she wrote some more

"Which gender are you anyway? I'm guessing a guy. Only stupid guys would do something perverted like that."

"I'm a guy"

"Thought so, all the more reason for me to get you out"

"Look, it wasn't my choice to come here"

"Sure it isn't. I guess all gender changing boys have to be forced into all girl schools. Imagine seeing all those naked girls, perish the thought"

"I mean it, it was all my granny's choice"

"And I guess it was your dog that makes you wear your clothes like you do now, and your uncle to buy such perverted lingerie? And I'm betting it's the sister that forced you into wearing excessive make-up" though cynicism usually appears through the intonation, this was terribly obvious, even for Ranma.

"…" not knowing what to say, Ranma just sighed and scratched her scalp, looking for words.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I can't leave this room, I'd be telling everyone here in school who you really were. So, you better not invite anyone."

"Why don't you?"

"I can't, okay?"

"Are you bound to this place?"

"I just can't"

"I mean, I saw ghosts before that can't leave specific areas. But those are temples, tombs, forests, hills, monasteries, palaces, you know, rooms with meanings. But being bound to a dorm? From what I heard, you seem more like a ghost that just doesn't want to leave because of that love gone wrong and all."

"Look, I just can't leave, just leave me alone"

And with that, the presence of the spirit was gone.


End file.
